Eurotopics.net

The EU and the South American trade block Mercosur have agreed on a major trade deal. First launched in 2000, the negotiations between the EU on the one side and Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay on the other were concluded last week. No less than 772 million people now live within the trade bloc. Is this good news?

In an interview with the Financial Times, Russian president Vladimir Putin criticised liberalism, in particular regarding the way liberal democracies have dealt with migrants. Liberalism is obsolete; the majority of the population doesn't want it, he maintained. Europe's commentators roundly reject the president's assertions.

After a tough round of talks at a special summit on Sunday evening the chances of the Dutch social democrat Frans Timmermans occupying the EU's top job have increased, although there was still no sign of a conclusive agreement on Monday morning. While some commentators voice annoyance at the prolonged tug of war, others point to the advantages of this way of filling top EU posts.

Forty-two refugees have been waiting for over two weeks to disembark from the Mediterranean rescue ship Sea-Watch 3. Disregarding a ban from Rome which has been provisionally upheld by the European Court of Justice, the crew sailed into Italian waters on Wednesday and anchored off the island of Lampedusa. What does the conflict tell us?

For the second time in eight days German Chancellor Angela Merkel was caught on camera suffering a bout of shaking. The incident has prompted media to speculate about the chancellor's health and the consequences of the stabilising politician's potentially withdrawing from politics. Others say the incident is being blown out of proportion.

After 17 hours of parliamentary debate Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš narrowly survived a no-confidence vote on Thursday morning. Five opposition parties had called the vote after the Czech Republic saw its biggest protests in 30 years against the billionaire head of government who is facing charges of corruption. Why did the opposition's initiative fail?